The first time I had sex was with my sister. I was 16 and she was 12. We were young then and I was in love with her. I am still and she loves me too since we still do it together once a while.

AFTER nearly two years of waiting, two nail-biting years during which one dreaded when the news would finally come following the initial announcement of his body’s succumbing to the onslaught of an unusual lung cancer for a non-smoker- after this long wait, the news came at last on Saturday, September 5, that the cock had finally crowed for Gani Fawehinmi.

GANI Fawehinmi was a special Nigerian both in life and death. Many people were born to be copycats. They abound everywhere, particularly among so-called opinion leaders. They are unable to produce unique and insightful ideas. But because they have the gift of the gab and the elevated platform to demonstrate it, they pass for intelligent or intellectual people.

September 6 was a terrible day in the history of Nigeria football. It was a day confidence was buried alive and a buried “hope” was exhumed, becoming a bride courted by Nigerians from Maiduguri to Uyo. September 6, our World Cup qualification was put in dire straits, to say the least.

Media reports indicated that such auditors were indeed deployed to the banks late in 2008, shortly before expiration of Soludo’s five-year term; however, it would seem that these auditors failed woefully in alerting the nation of the inebriate state of the banks! Indeed, possibly based on the incorrect reports filed back, or in spite of the ugly reality, the former CBN Governor boasted that Nigerian banks were stronger than ever and could readily support the government if the effects of the global recession approached our shores!

I never knew Gani Fawehinmi in a deep and personal way, but he was of course, rested somewhere in my consciousness, as I’m sure he does in the consciousness of any Nigerian of my generation, as an inevitable testimony of true acts of public heroism. He was indeed the hero of the silent unrepresented; those we love to call the masses. He, therefore, somehow, seemed to belong to all of us.

Nigeria needs N24 tn to meet MDG target in 2015. Nigeria needs to spend N24trn in the next six years to realize the Millennium Development Goals target by 2015. —Senior Special Adviser Assistant to the Presdient on MDGs, Mrs Fatima Ibrahim, disclosed this to journalists after presenting the second and third quarter reports to President Umaru Yar’Adua in Abuja on Thursday… An average annual requirement of N4trn till 2015 is needed in order to reach the MDGs.

GANI Fawehinmi has left this part of the world he has been on and in for 71 years. All there is to say is how he faired. And that has been demonstrated since Saturday, September 5 when he passed on after a lonAg battle with an ailment we know little about worldwide, and we have refused to do even the little we can about here.

EVER since the new governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido, announced that some of the well-known banks in Nigeria are not healthy despite the consolidation exercise carried out a few years ago, a lot have been said and written on the matter.

UNTIL our government tackles health issues seriously, we cannot lay claims to being a developing country, because our health system has been steadily sliding since independence.‘Patients groan as UCH hikes fees’ is a pointer that our government is insensitive to the health needs and interests of the masses.

A torrent – nay, an avalanche – of tributes, such as has seldom been witnessed in our nation has been cascading down the pages of newspapers since Gani Fawehinmi passed on barely seven days ago. Yes, Gani deserves his rest no less than he merits these spontaneous expressions of the admiration of his compatriots.

Since the death of Gani Fawehinmi, a lot has been said and published about him: about his dogged fighting spirit; about his passion for improving the fortunes of the less privileged and the poor; about his fierce battles against injustice and wickedness in high places. The list is longer.

It’s all part of the game. I remember the names they called Ibrahim Galadima when Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. I remember the humiliation he went through. I also remember how Christian Chukwu was still on his way back to Enugu when he was disengaged without a letter till date. Angola had come to Kano to earn a draw and that ended our dream to the World Cup from a group that appeared to be a piece of cake to all eyes.

THE tragedy in Afghanistan continues with the massacre of 70 persons by NATO bombers for the crime of scooping fuel from two oil tankers, and the results of fraudulent national elections.

WITHIN the last decade, some strange words seem to have sneaked surreptitiously into the dictionary of social science or political philosophy.